AN: Happy Valentines day people! I made a bunch of truffles and gave about forty away, there are still about thirty in the house that we;re getting sick of. I hope you all are having a grand day, and if not go out tomorrow and buy half off candy, that's what I'm going to do. Also, perhaps this chapter will help to make the day better? Maybe?

Thank you so much for reviewing, sorry it took so long. I got caught up in printmaking and online classes, god I didn't want to write anything after reading a hundred pages of astronomy, film history, and sign culture. Although, I did finish it finally.

Blackandwhiteangel13 edited this chapter! I'm so thankful to have a beta reader, she's so amazing. T^T

Enjoy the chapter!


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Chapter Seven

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Collin had no idea where they were going. He kept finding people everywhere he went, and was beginning to get a little angry which made Reeve grin next to him.

"What's wrong? Can't find your way?" She asked, in a mocking voice. His grip tightened on her arm as his head jerked this way and that, trying to find a place that was void of other humans; finally he found a deserted hallway. He'd probably been hoping for a room, or somewhere he could hide them behind a wall, but this was the best he was going to find in a place he didn't know. Reeve recognized it as one of the many alcoves that they passed on the way to the tattoo parlor, and hair cutting salon. Perhaps there had once been a store that sat in here, but now it was gone.

Once they had stopped Reeve wretched her arm out of his grip venomously. Whatever he was trying to do with her, whether he was going to teach her a lesson or not, it wouldn't happen the way he wanted it to. Did he forget that she was a member of Dauntless now? Did he not know that she had been trained to fight people, and overcome the opponents bigger than her? Since she was no longer a member of Erudite, there was no reason to listen to such a sickening man as him.

"I'd expected better of you," he sneered, glaring down at her. "To have our parents come home alone, knowing that everything I had done to keep you in Erudite had been a waste. It made me a little sad," he muttered, with a hurt expression on his face. It made Reeve laugh shortly, and she watched his facial features change from fake hurt into genuine anger.

"After all you did, there was no way I was going to stay," she replied blandly. "Why they would ever keep such a sickening, vulgar, short tempered, and waste of space person like you is beyond me," her voice was cold.

He snapped in front of her; something she had dreaded while in Erudite, but made her excited here. Back then she couldn't defend herself, but now she had beaten men stronger than he was. Collin moved quickly to trap her against the wall, but she had been ready for that, and dodged away from the movement. When he turned to strike her she twisted his arm, and shoved him backwards; making the young man stumble, and try to figure out what he had missed. It didn't take him long to recover. Soon he was back at her, unable to land any hits, and only being successful in making his younger sister snarl at his many failed attempts.

"You can't threaten me anymore," she said, shrugging his fist away from her form.

Elaine had been quiet during the whole exchange. Watching them dive towards each other over, and over again, while she held her breath, and hoped for the best. Out of the corner of his eye Collin saw the long haired girl standing behind them, and an idea sparked in his mind. His next attack turned away from Reeve, and launched towards Elaine who merely gasped, and covered her eyes. Reeve reacted quickly and jumped in front of the girl in time to catch a powerful open palmed slap to her left cheek. There was no noise of pain or complaint that came from the red head, even when the blow had been strong enough to force her to the ground.

"Are you sure?" He laughed, "It definitely looks like I can."

"Let him hit me," Elaine whispered behind her. Reeve didn't react to her comment, instead letting her expression harden when she found that her lip was bleeding where her teeth had bitten it. She stayed where she was, after she'd left her younger siblings to deal with this monster by themselves, the least she could do was protect her when she was near. "After you left, mom and dad started to notice things again, if he hurts me they get mad at him," she explained.

"Shut up," Collin shouted in front of them. In seconds his hand tangled in Reeve's short hair, and pulled at it painfully making her hiss bitterly, and grit her teeth.

"You don't have to protect me anymore," Elaine shouted, trying to get in between them. "Mom and dad don't ignore us anymore, Collin can't do anything," she beat against her older brothers back uselessly.

"You hear that," Collin began.

In the past few years Reeve hadn't reacted much to his beatings, or even when he scarred her. She had been quiet, and endured it all with a blank look on her face. It was all true, after losing another child to a different faction their mother, and father decided that the only way they were going to keep the next few was to raise them more closely. If Collin wasn't a good enough teacher, or role model to follow they would have to fill in the cracks that he let show. In the end they didn't want to lose another child. It meant that finally Collin had something to use against Reeve, something that would hurt her more than any bash to the head ever had.

"That means they didn't care enough about you to come home, and see if you were okay," he sneered, pushing Elaine out of the way. "They're so happy that you're gone, now they can be proper parents, and care for their children. At least the children that matter anyway," he grinned devilishly. "It was those eyes; from the second you were born they knew that you were a freak. This," he jerked at her hair again, "was something they wish they'd never had."

"Reeve that's not true, they just," their younger sister faltered with her words.

She didn't know what to say, because there was a bit of truth in what Collin was saying; Only after the red head had left did their parents even try to care about their kin. Her parents had always figured that the girl was going to stay. With all the books she read, the thirst to know more, there was no question about whether or not she was going to stay in Erudite.

"They just didn't know what was going on. Mom and dad just didn't know how to take care of you," she tried to explain, but it didn't help in the slightest.

"I don't care," Reeve spit out at them. "I stopped thinking of them as my parents a long time ago, I don't care," she seethed, at her brother. "I'm just happy that a useless dog like you is subdued. You're right, I wasn't something they wanted, but it doesn't bother me. What bothers me is that I never scrounged up the guts to kill you in your sleep, to end your pathetic life," her voice was icy, and it made Collin freeze.

Looking down at his sister he saw that she was glaring up at him, there was a fiery vengeance in her eyes, that made a shiver travel down his spine. He'd never seen such an expression on her face before. She looked ready to spring up from his grip, and tear him to shreds.

"Well," Collin grinned suddenly, and threw Reeve to the ground. When she moved to get up he stepped on her hands, and reveled in the small crackling sound her knuckles made against the cement floor beneath them. "Go ahead and try, you were so weak, and worthless back then. I'm sure not much has changed," he mused.

He glanced down at Reeve with a grin on his face, ready to spit down at her when the expression in her eyes made him freeze; her eyes had hardened into a dark glare. This was not the same girl he'd thrown around the house after a frustrating day at work. The woman beneath him was weary, and thickened from what she had been through the past weeks, and years of her life. Before she felt molded into his hands like clay, he could tell her what to do, and to a certain extent, she would listen to him. Such was not the case anymore. The wild gaze she had trained on him was proof enough of how much she had changed.
For a long time Reeve had been afraid to fight back for fear that Collin would turn around, and find her younger siblings in order to get revenge. She'd done the best she could, and protected them from him, because her parents were always off doing something else; not even bothering to ask where she had gotten such a big bruise from. She had people to care for, which caused her to be weak, but now that her parents were finally paying attention to their children it was different. Everything that the man above her had done in the past boiled up to the surface, and with such a devilish grin on his face how could she not snap?

With a vicious yell she arched her back below him, and twisted in her pinned down state, until she was able to kick him in the leg, and force his feet away from her hands. The moment he stumbled away from her Reeve lurched to her feet, and threw herself at Collin quickly. Dodging a slow attempt at a punch, her hand connected with his neck. He gagged in front of her, and slunk backwards to get away, looking up at his younger sister in time to see her smirk at his pain, he felt a shiver wash over his skin.

Reeve watched his expression change from baffled, to enraged as he started towards her again. This time a little faster than before, now that he knew she wouldn't hesitate to fight back. His knuckles barely brushed her shoulder before a small fist found his stomach, and her knee found his ribs. Collin did his best to retaliate, and ended up grabbing at her hair again, wrenching her body towards the rocky wall behind them. Instead of letting herself crash into it, Reeve warped her body around until Collin had to release her. The burning pain of her scalp did not slow her down, as she jumped towards the wall. Pushing off of it powerfully, she landed a fist straight into her brother's face, his head jerked backwards, and he fumbled towards the ground.

"Did you call me weak?" She seethed.

In front of her Collin sat up, and wiped a bit of blood from his lips. He merely smiled at her as if they had an argument, and he had just won. It made Reeve bitter to see him looking so triumphant, even though he had been the one to take a beating. Her gaze was cold, as she walked up to where he was sitting on the ground. Her fingers wrapped tightly into the fabric of his shirt before she pulled his face up to meet her own. He spit in her face, and smiled, showing her his bloody teeth, and devious expression.

"Sam, please stop," Elaine said, next to her softly.

In the heat of the fight Reeve had forgotten all about their younger sister, who was gasping, and closing her eyes trying to block the noises of punches out of her mind. It was not something Reeve had ever wanted her sister to see, which was why she'd always been the first one to greet Collin whenever he had gotten home. She'd always made sure that her siblings were nowhere in sight, whenever their brother was irritated. The name she'd called her made Reeve stiffen. It wasn't the one she had chosen for herself, it was the one she'd never hoped to be called again.

"That's not my name," she hissed, getting ready to hit Collin again.

Here in Dauntless, she had earned the right to be called something different than what she had been given at birth. This was her home now, and she didn't want anyone to know what her name used to be.

"Reeve," a new voice caught her attention. She froze before turning towards the entrance of the shallow room; Four was standing with his back to the light, giving her a stern glare that made the girl bare her teeth at him. "That's enough," he said shortly.

She let go of her brother, and straightened. Then tearing off her blue bandana, and wiping off her bloody spit covered face she looked at the deep blue color of it. Suddenly sickened by the dark hue Reeve threw the piece of cloth at her brother, wondering why she had ever picked it in the first place without remembering where she came from.

"Thanks for coming to visit me, tell the twins I said hi," she muttered, regaining her indifferent attitude. Four was surprised by how quickly she could turn around, and at the same time enraged by what he saw. Reeve gave her sister a small hug before walking towards Four, once the light hit her face he could see a red mark on her face where she'd been hit, and a bit of blood where her lip had split open.

"See you later, Samantha," Collin said cheekily.

Four was about to say something to the red head in front of him, before she pushed past him and made her way towards the training room. The Dauntless trainer stared after her small form for a second, before his attention turned on the two Erudite visitors who had been Reeve's family. Somehow, the scene was familiar to him, and made his heart ache at the memory. To think Reeve had gone through the same thing, it wasn't a pleasant similarity.

He followed her, after staring down at the blue clothed siblings for a few seconds. When he got to the training area she was already in the back by the targets. A steady thud could be heard as she threw knife after knife into the wall. Each blade striking the throat, head, or chest. He approached only when she moved to retrieve them.

It was quiet, except for the sound of knives being thrown. Four was silent company, he understood that she didn't want to have anyone talk to her. Words didn't help in this situation, none of that did anything for her, or anyone for that matter. It only made the person speaking feel less awkward about stepping into such an emotional event; it was the silence that people usually feared to be stuck in that she relished.

"Thanks for stopping me," she finally spoke.
Her hands faltered with the knives, as she gazed down at the one in her fingers. At first she had wanted to yell at Four to leave her alone, but found that the company, even if it was silent, made her comfortable. As if he knew what she was going through, he wasn't speaking to her, or asking if she was okay, no apologies, just watching, and understanding.

"You're welcome," he replied softly.

They stayed like that for a little while before Four excused himself. Wondering why he had stayed with the red head so long in the first place, if only to watch her throw knives into targets. Perhaps it was because he saw so much of himself in what she was going through, he couldn't just leave her alone. In the end if there was someone that could have been there for him when he had been going through everything, he would have wished for them to stay, and keep him company. He hadn't expected to care about the girl at first, but now after he found out what she had been through, it was hard not to.

Reeve switched from knives to the punching bag quickly after Four left, working out her frustration just as she had done before. It would have been better if no one had come to visit her at all. Her anger would have stayed at a constant for her brother, and she wouldn't have had to find out about what changed. Now she knew that without her everything was better, if she had never existed in the first place everything would have been fine.

She kept trying to convince herself that it didn't matter anymore, because she didn't have to go through with it anymore. Over and over she told herself not to think about it, with each fist thrown at the bag in front of her. Although, Reeve didn't want to admit it the words Collin, and Elaine had spoken to her cut deep. In the end she had persuaded herself to believe that her parents cared nothing for her, because it had been less painful that way. Knowing that it had actually been that way all along seemed to hurt more than she thought it would.

Every time she saw her parents with a new wound on her face or arms, they would look the other direction, as if she wasn't sitting in front of them at the dinner table or going to school in the morning. When Collin would throw her down the stairs, their ears seemed muffled to the sound of her body falling down the steps. The only time they seemed to speak to her was when she was hiding in her room behind a closed door.

A rather forceful punch that made her knuckles scream out in pain brought Reeve back to reality, she realized something for the first time. All the time she had been in Erudite, she'd thought she was hiding from her parents in the library or in her room. She'd skip their fleeting eyes, and they hurried to get out of the room. She hadn't been hiding from them; they had been hiding from her. As if she had been a mistake they were happy to be rid of, they could turn a blind eye to Collin hurting someone as long as it had been her. If Elaine got a bruise god forbid their older brother get away with it, from what she heard they were on him in a heartbeat. Not their precious little girl Elaine, it had just been her that he had been allowed to scar and hurt.

What shocked Reeve even more than such a thought, were the cold trails of tears that raced down her cheeks suddenly. Crying didn't solve anything. It was something she had learned early on after Collin started hurting her, no matter how many times she'd cried herself to sleep her parents failed to comfort her. She wasn't sad, no there was nothing sad about what she realized. If anything she was angry to have had such terrible parents, but her heart ached. It was a painful thought to know that up until a certain point her parents had cared about her, to know that if she had disappeared sooner it would have been better for everyone. That was where her agony was coming from, the knowledge that she should have vanished a long time ago.
At the same time she was just plain pissed off; there was no reason to cry now that she had left everything behind for good. She should be smiling, and feel as if a huge weight has been lifted off her shoulders, but that was not the case. If anything Reeve wished she could go back to Erudite, for one hour just to tell her parents what she thought of them; although, she knew it wouldn't do her any good. It might make her feel a little bit better about herself, though probably not.

The thought of seeing her parents faces when she showed up looking like a completely different person spurred a whole new batch of powerful punches that made her knuckles zing painfully. Her hands were already sore from when Collin had stepped on them, enough to be able to hear the bone crunching against the concrete beneath them. Now she was pounding away the pain as best she could, only stopping to watch a bit of blood seep from where her skin had split open from too much use.

"This looks familiar," she recognized Eric's voice immediately.

The night before her thoughts had been filled with how his lips had felt on her neck, the way he had taken her skin with his teeth, but her thoughts had changed rapidly. The events of visiting day caused her to almost completely forget about what had happened in the medical ward. Seeing the man responsible for the mark on her neck caused Reeve's cheeks to turn the slightest shade of red, she set her lips into a frown, and glared at the young Dauntless leader.

He smirked devilishly at her response, and moved closer to her form. Reeve had to remind herself that Eric was only picking on her because of the way she reacted. If she simply ignored him, eventually he would go away, is what she liked to continue to tell herself. Yet ignoring him was what had grabbed his interest in the first place. With a man like Eric it seemed that she just couldn't get it right, perhaps when she was finally a member of Dauntless they would assign her to a job that he would be unable to visit her at. Except that Mal had said she was going to be in the med bay with him. Which meant that anyone, and everyone in the faction could go to them for help with injuries, or when they were bored in Eric's case.

"Who got the better of you?" His mocking voice pulled Reeve from her thoughts. She sighed blandly, as if the man in front of her was asking something he should already know the answer to.

"It was visiting day," she replied, as if it was the correct answer for everything.

"I know," he muttered, not knowing what she meant.

For Reeve the comment she made revealed all. She'd once told the man about how she had to leave Erudite else risk finally snapping, and killing her older brother. Which had almost happened earlier that day anyway, if Four hadn't been there to stop her from continuing it could have ended badly. For Eric the response was cryptic, and didn't make any sense, of course he knew that it was visiting day. He'd been waiting all day for it to end so he could find Reeve, and figure out how well the events from the night before had worked out. Why did visiting day have anything to do with the way her face looked.

It almost made him angry, to see her lip split open. There were even tell tale signs of bruising on her left cheek from where he can only guess someone slapped her. At first he'd wondered when she had gotten into a fight, why he hadn't been there to watch the whole thing happen, but then he saw the stain on her neck. It was dark purple and red, appearing in stark contrast to her otherwise smooth, and pale skin. He licked his lips at the memory of Reeve squirming beneath him, the small sounds of protest that barely flitted off her tongue. A deep need surged within him to mark her again, because obviously one hadn't been enough if someone had touched her despite the discoloration on her neck.

They had to have seen it, yet still someone had gone and touched what wasn't theirs to mess with; perhaps it had been one of the other transfers trying to get the better of her. In which he would find them later, and see how well they could hold up against a leader of Dauntless. The only person that could pick on Reeve was him. The thought made him falter, and go still behind Reeve. How he had ever gotten to the point where Reeve almost belonged to him was a mystery. When she'd first arrived Eric couldn't stand the girl, how she was so unresponsive, and blank whenever he tried to bother her. Somewhat recently his feelings towards her had changed. Fairly rapidly he'd gone from wishing harm onto the girl, if only to see her reaction to reveling in every reaction he could get from her. Before he hadn't cared who touched her, but now it made him bitter to see her with someone else.

"So who was it?" The burning question in his mind broke free. Who was he going to have to pay a visit to?

"I already told you," she mumbled, glancing down at her bloodied knuckles as if he wasn't even there. After the day's events Reeve was tired, more than anything she didn't want to deal with Eric. She wanted to go eat dinner, have menial conversations with her friends, and then go to sleep. She didn't care that the man in front of her was a leader of Dauntless, she was still angry about what he had done to her neck.

"Reeve," he snarled out her name. Somehow it was strange, to hear him say what she had chosen to be called. After all the time that he had been messing with her, she couldn't remember a time when he called her that. The sound of it rolling off his tongue made her shiver at how angry he was, but there was nothing to be angry about. Whatever happened to her, whoever she fought with, it was none of his business.

In front of him Reeve seemed to shiver only slightly before her posture straightened, and she turned towards him with a dull expression on her face. There was nothing for her to say, and without even a quirk of her lips she was moving away from him. Eric reacted without thinking, reached out to grab her upper arm tightly, she sighed softly before looking back at him with the same plain look on her face. He didn't like that.

"What do your tattoos mean?" His new question surprised her, for whatever reason he wanted to know. Reeve was not against such a question in the long run, after all her friends already knew what they were hiding. In a way, if she answered this question it would also answer the one he had asked at the start of their conversation.

"They're covering scars," she said, before looking down at his hand on her arm.

Eric didn't fail to notice the way her eyes clouded with a pained expression, as if someone had a knife in her gut that they'd twisted. It was a new reaction that he'd not seen before, and somehow it made his blood boil. What could have happened that she looked like this whenever she remembered it?

"Are you going to let me go now?" She questioned, pulling gently at his grip. He let go quickly, and his eyes found the smooth skin of her neck once again. "You can always ask Four what happened," she muttered, turning to walk away from the man. Unknowingly snapping his attention back on her form in a heartbeat, Reeve knew he didn't care for the other Dauntless member, but she was unaware of the thoughts going through his mind. "He was there," she finished blandly.

Within moments Eric had her pinned to the floor; although, it was much like what her brother had done earlier that day, all thoughts of similarity left her mind at once. The leader above flipped the red head onto her back, and grabbed her wrists into one hand before pushing them above her form powerfully. After all the training she'd been through Reeve hoped that she would be a little more powerful against others, but such was not the case with Eric. He overpowered her as if she was a cat, and he was a lion. The difference between them was laughable, and made the transfer wish she had run from the training room when she had the chance.

"Four was there?" He seethed, stopping any movement of her legs with his own.

Reeve didn't answer, just because he was stronger than her didn't mean she had to answer to him. There was nothing for him to use against her to make her speak, she was mostly curious as to why the man cared so much whether or not the other Dauntless member was there in the first place. Four had helped stop her, and stayed with her when she didn't even know she needed the company, it was more than Eric would ever do for her.

"I guess I have to give you another one," he hissed leaning down onto her body. Eric relished the feeling of her form against his own, the way her eyes never strayed from his made him lick his lips in anticipation. He knew as soon as his mouth was on her skin, her hard exterior would slowly crumble, and she would tremble beneath him.

Too caught up in his own thoughts Eric was unprepared for the surprise attack that Reeve managed to get on him, she pulled her leg out from under his weight quickly before kneeing him in the ribs. She'd been expecting him to let go of her, for there to be a fight, but he surprised her by angrily moving the fabric of her shirt out of the way before biting down on her shoulder. Her first mistake had been telling Eric that Four had been there with her when he had not, her second mistake happened when she'd tried to escape from him. He didn't like the way she so easily avoided the questions that burned in his mind, and how she effortlessly made his blood boil without even trying.

The way Eric was biting, and sucking on her skin made Reeve realize how gentle he had been with her the night before. The way his teeth sunk into her skin every few seconds made her shiver, and writhe beneath his form. His free hand moved up the side of her shirt before slipping beneath the fabric, she gasped at the feeling of his rough hands on her stomach.

"Get off me!" She huffed, trying to regain her composure.

Eric responded by dragging his tongue up the side of her neck before revisiting the mark from yesterday, it was sore, and made Reeve groan ever so softly in pain when he took the skin between his teeth. She hated this, to feel so helpless beneath someone who was only trying to mess with her. As far as Reeve understood of Eric, the man's only aim was to pick on her until she reacted in a way that was entertaining to him. It was frustrating, and Reeve pushed her form to thrash against him, to which Eric responded by moving his hand further up her form.

He couldn't stand it, that Four had been with her when he had not. Perhaps he had been the one to protect her from the person who had hit her. Maybe she had been trying to rile him up or simply made the comment as if to get back at him for the night before, though it had only succeeded in pissing him off. Had Four not seen the mark on her neck? One wasn't enough apparently, he had to give her another. To take that smooth skin back into his mouth, and feel her squirm against his body, he'd have to listen to her growl, and whimper beneath his form.

Soon enough Eric found himself distracted from his previous objective; the way she had spoken to him trying to prove that she wasn't affected made him anxious. Licking his way up to her old mark, Eric relished the small noise of protest that she made as he closed his mouth on it once more. He had to give her some credit for continuing to revolt against him, but at the same time he was tired of her fighting back. Moving his hand up slowly all movements by the red head stalled, as she took the hand on her lower back into account.

Finally when he was satisfied Eric moved away from her neck to look down at her, what he saw made his breath catch in his throat like a lump of bread. Her cheeks were almost as red as her hair, her lips were parted slightly as she let a small growl roll off her tongue when she saw that he was looking at her. Although the expression in her eyes was clearly as pissed off as he had ever seen her there was something else that he'd not seen in her before. A dark urge swept within Eric as he looked down at her, whatever he had been thinking at the start of this was gone, and all he could think about was how much he wanted to devour the woman beneath him.

"Are you done?" She seethed, trying to pull her arms free.

Eric had to marvel at the way she was still able to pull upon her anger so easily, one moment she was twisting beneath his form bitterly, and the next she was glaring up at him darkly. Though there was one thing that betrayed her, and spurred the young leader on all the more, the very first thing he'd been oh so surprised to see. Even after mustering up enough rage to spit fire at him there were still traces of crimson dusted across her cheeks, and that alone was enough to keep him going.

"Reeve, are you in here?" The redhead recognized Tris' voice almost immediately. Eric turned to see who would dare to interrupt them, and wasn't expecting the girl underneath him to take the opportunity so quickly.

As soon as she saw that Eric was distracted Reeve took the chance, and thrust her head forward until she felt it connect with someone else's. The leader lurched backwards upon impact, he released Reeve who wasted no time in pulling herself to her feet, swaying slightly, and stomping away from him ferociously. He wanted to be angry at her, for seeing such a weakness that he hadn't even thought about, for the blood that had begun to trickle out of his nose, or even for defying him so valiantly until the last moment.

Yet he couldn't help but feel anticipation, and confusion building within himself. There was a moment that'd he'd lost himself to the feeling of her form beneath his own. When he'd finished, and leaned back to look at his work something inside of him twitched anxiously, urging him to continue. It was odd, because in the beginning all he had wanted was to get Reeve to react to him, if only to see her angry or catch the traces of a smirk. How had his objective changed so quickly? Now all he wanted to do was pin her against something, make her writhe, and twist beneath his form. It was curious, the thoughts that he was having, but he couldn't stop himself, not when his hand was still warm from her skin.

Reeve spoke briefly with her friend before the other transfer turned to lead the red head away, she glanced backwards to see Eric still sitting on the ground, looking at her with a devilish smirk on his face. He was going to have fun breaking her.

"Are you okay?" Tris questioned, glancing at her frazzled companion.

"Yeah, just ran into the wrong person," she muttered bitterly.

"Did your brother come today?" She asked, after seeing her split lip.

After they hadn't seen the girl at lunch there was a bit of speculation that went on within their group of friends. Al helped clear it up slightly by saying that he had seen the girl getting pulled away by a man who had a younger girl with him. They berated him slightly on why he hadn't investigated further, he dodged their accusations until Four interrupted them by sitting down next to Tris. He muttered something about a crazy girl throwing knives in the training room before ignoring them for the rest of the meal. Christina and Will tried to get an answer from her, but Tris kept it to herself. If Reeve had been with her brother there was a good chance she wouldn't want to see everyone right away. Mostly because Tris was sure that she barely tolerated them as it was already, sometimes when they asked her questions during meals she wouldn't even glance their way.

What Tris hadn't been expecting to see was Eric sitting on the ground behind her friend when she walked further into the training room. From the way that he was looking after Reeve Tris worried slightly for what might happen to her red headed companion next, obviously the man was not good company.

"Did he hit you?" She questioned, looking at the marks on her neck.

"Yeah, but I got him back," she seethed, remembering her brother's bloody grin.

"Eric did?" Tris looked a little angry, and shocked.

"No, my brother," Reeve looked at her strangely, "He doesn't-," she stopped herself short.

Out of all the time Eric had decided to mess with Reeve he'd never actually hit her, not like her brother did anyway. For a long time she had been comparing him to her older brother who was cruel, and didn't hesitate to hurt her when he had the chance. But Eric had never slapped her, or even drawn blood; somehow she had missed that with the way he was always moving to restrain her. What did that mean then? She knew that he wanted to bother her, to see how she would react, yet the easiest way to see her expression would be for him to harmed her, and he hadn't done that.

Reeve reached for her neck subconsciously. Why had he been so articulate with biting at her neck in the first place? It was confusing, because with the way Eric treated her she couldn't imagine that he could like her, not the way she assumed relationships were supposed to work anyway. All she could think about at the moment was the tight grip he had on her wrists, and the way his hard chest had felt pressed up against her body. It made her blush darkly, and wonder what the heck was wrong with her head in the first place.

"Are you okay?" Her friend questioned, when she saw her cheeks redden.

"Just pissed off," Reeve snarled, trying to erase the images from her mind. "I thought I would feel better after finally beating him up," she muttered. Finally starting to rid her mind of the thoughts had been thrashing around inside her head for the past couple hours. "But I don't," she seethed. Tris didn't know what to say. What she had been through back in Erudite, she couldn't relate to the girl at all, and felt that trying would be embarrassing for both of them.

"Will some cake cheer you up?" Was the best that Tris could offer.

"Doesn't hurt to try," her voice was bland.

Cake did not help. Not when her friends wanted to know where she had been, what happened with her brother, did she see her sister, and what the heck happened to her neck? She wanted another bandana to hide it, and even then she could imagine Eric's smug face when he saw that she was trying to cover up what he had given her. To see that it bothered her enough to cover it up would make him grin wide enough to split his face open.

She didn't answer their questions, and elected to keep quiet, adopting a ticked off face in order to ward off more questions. Even going to bed early that night just to get away from people giving her questioning looks.

What bugged her the most, even more than the bloody smile that her brother had offered her, was the look of anticipation that Eric had when she glanced back at him. She'd wanted him to look pissed off, bitter, and resentful. He hadn't looked like that at all! Not when she had gotten the better of him, or even when she caused his nose to bleed. If anything the man looked excited. He too grinned like her brother had, but this time she couldn't see the similarities. The expression he had given her made Reeve tremble, because usually she was pretty good at guessing what people were going to do next, they were all so predictable, even Eric had been so easy to read at first. Now, she had no idea what was going to happen next.

.


AN: Word of the chapter, relish. Each time I wrote that word the only thing that came to my mind was pickles, nasty pickles that only taste good in deviled eggs.

What do you guys think will happen next? I'm thinking of building a friendship between Four and Reeve, because I feel like they could be close, like brother/sister type thing.

Also, poll time. Should Reeve be Divergent, or something else, because I can write it either way. Tell me in a review.

Thanks for reading!